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Leg raises while lying on your back. Lying leg raises: technique, exercise options, useful recommendations. Relaxes the nervous system

Lying on your back leg raises is an abdominal exercise that is suitable for people with a low level of training due to its accessibility and simplicity. To pump up your lower abs, you don’t have to go to the gym or look for parallel bars; it’s even more difficult to pump up your abs on the horizontal bar, so the supine leg raise is suitable for everyone, due to its versatility and the ability to do it at home. Below you will learn the main points of this exercise and how to perform it most effectively and correctly.

Initial position

Lie on the floor, place your hands along your body or under your buttocks - this position is best for beginners. For more trained practitioners, you need to raise your hands behind your head and grab any support with them, this is how the abdominal muscles will best stretch and contract. Press your back and head completely against a horizontal surface. Bend your legs slightly at the knees.

Technique for performing leg raises while lying on your back

We begin the exercise “lifting legs while lying on your back” from a horizontal position. Take a breath and lift lower limbs to a vertical position or slightly lower along with the exhalation, lower them slowly along with the inhalation. When performing the exercise, I advise you not to lower your hips to the floor - due to the negative phase of the exercise, the abdominal muscles will be loaded faster. If you couldn't stand it and lowered it, don't worry, it's not entirely bad, as the abdominal muscles will relax more and subsequently tighten, although more repetitions will be required this exercise.

My advice to you is to work in a range where your legs will not fall on the surface on which you are lying and rise higher than 45 degrees. At vertical position legs, the abdominal muscles are switched off from work.

Do not throw your legs down, but lower them smoothly.
For greater stress on the abs, keep your limbs slightly bent in the lower position.
If you find it difficult to perform the exercise, bend your knees more.
To increase the load, hold a dumbbell between your legs and attach weights or an elastic band to them.
To better focus the load on the lower abdomen, when performing the “supine leg raise” exercise, place a pillow or rolled up towel under your lower back. Place your hands behind your head and grab something.

On the abdomen of each person there are 6–8 clearly defined fragments of the abdominal muscles. These are the same cubes that every novice athlete dreams of getting. If the percentage of fat is high, they are not visible, but they are always present. The “lying leg raise” exercise is aimed at focusing on the lower half of the abs, although it involves it along the entire length of the muscle.

Purpose of the exercise

Performing leg raises lying on the floor is a lightweight version of hanging leg raises. The exercise can be easily done at home. This does not require any additional devices. Therefore, it is a universal remedy for maintaining abdominal muscle tone in any circumstances.

What are lying leg raises used for:

To strengthen the abdominal muscles, especially the lower part, at any level of physical fitness.
For increase strength indicators abdominals and their endurance.
Exercise has a therapeutic effect on the body. In particular, it is used as an element in the prevention of osteochondrosis and intervertebral hernias, and is also suitable for rehabilitation after abdominal surgery on the peritoneum.
As an element morning exercises for children and adults.

Various performance techniques

Let's look at three options for lying down leg raises, designed for people with different levels of physical fitness:

People with weak abdominals who want to strengthen it.
Physically trained people who want to make their abs stronger and more prominent.
Athletes who require increased exercise.

Alternating Leg Raises for Beginners

Also, this version of the exercise is indicated for osteochondrosis or recovery after abdominal surgery.

Starting position – lying on your back, lower back pressed to the floor. The arms are extended along the body or clasped behind the head.
Beginners can raise their heads. Feet together. Raise one leg to an angle of 45–60 degrees, hold for 1–2 seconds and lower to initial position.
When the heel of the first leg touches the floor, you can lift the second leg.
Repeat the same for the second leg.

Watch your breathing. Exhale at maximum load. That is, we raise our legs - exhale, lower them - inhale.

To recover after surgery, it is recommended to further bend the leg at the knee so that there is no discomfort at the incision site. Gradually straighten your leg until it straightens. Attention! After the operation, you must wait the minimum time specified by the doctor, after which you can do any physical activity!

During pregnancy, it is better to cancel this exercise. Women should put less stress on their abs than men. Overdeveloped muscles can make childbirth difficult.

Simultaneous leg lift without weights

This exercise option is suitable for healthy people with an average level of physical fitness.

Starting position: as in the previous case. That is, lying on your back, on the floor. Raising your head is not recommended, as this makes the exercise easier. Feet together.
We begin raising both legs to an angle of 45–60 degrees, pause for 1–2 seconds while raised and lower them back.

There are two variations of this exercise technique:

Lowering your heels to the floor. This is easier to do, because when you touch the floor, your abs rest.
Without lowering your heels onto a horizontal surface, leaving 1–2 cm to it. This is the most effective option exercise that keeps your abs tense all the time.

It is recommended to perform 2-3 sets, starting with 10-12 repetitions. For yourself, you can reach 30 repetitions in each approach. You should start with the first option, when your feet fall to the floor. After 1–2 weeks, you can move on to the second option, when the heels do not touch the floor.

If desired, the legs can be held in the raised position for more than two seconds (depending on how you feel).

Lying leg raises with weights

If your abdominal muscles are well developed and you need to increase the load, this option is perfect.

The technique is the same as in the previous exercise. The nuance is this: a weighting agent is attached to each leg (standard on the mounts). Alternatively, you can hold a dumbbell with your feet. The weight of the dumbbell is selected individually.

Raise your legs to an angle of more than 60 degrees or less than 45. The meaning of the exercise is lost. When the legs are raised higher, the muscles relax. Below – the muscles do not reach peak tension.

How to develop abdominal strength, pump up your six-pack and increase endurance

It should be understood that it is impossible to pump up both at once. To achieve each goal, the tactics will be different.

Strength and volume

This exercise, in itself, when performed solo, is not very suitable for creating relief press. To achieve pronounced results, it is necessary to combine it with other exercises for the abdominal muscles. It can be:

double twists;
etc.

Note that when performing abdominal exercises, in particular, lying leg raises, volume and strength can be increased by following the following rules:

Number of approaches 3–4.
Reps in each approach are 10–12.
We use maximum weights(the kind where you can do with correct technique 10–12 repetitions, no more).
Adding loads. Do you feel like you can do more without your technique suffering? Let's increase it. Gradually, there is no need to rush!

Endurance

Everything is much simpler here. We do the maximum possible number of repetitions in a prone position in an accelerated version. Two approaches are quite enough to expand the limits of abdominal endurance. We work through the burning sensation in the muscles.

How many times a week should you exercise

As an exercise, 1-2 sets of 10 repetitions can be done daily in the morning. Without weights, start by raising your legs one at a time. Depending on how you feel, switch to simultaneous lifting. Do not use weights.

To develop strength and abs, 2 times a week is enough. Remember, this is just one of several exercises, so you need to do other exercises to achieve this goal.

To develop endurance, you can train every day. Moreover, do the maximum number of repetitions 2 times a week. On other days - 2-3 sets of 30 times. For beginners, just 2-3 times a week is enough. Believe me, the effect will be noticeable.

Common mistakes

Below are the most common mistakes that most people make.

Lifting the body off the floor following the legs. This exercise involves only raising your legs - your back lies on the floor.
No mat, doing the exercise on a cold floor. Neglecting this seemingly trifle is harmful to your health. First, purchase a polymer soft mat. Secondly, ensure there is no draft.
Performing the exercise in jerks. If you repeat the movements very quickly, you get a chaotic contraction of the muscles of the whole body. Inertia arises, and a lot of necessary forces are spent on extinguishing it. Obey speed limits.
No delay when raised. This is acceptable if your abs are still weak. To increase efficiency, it is recommended to linger at the top point for 1–2 seconds.
Throwing your legs to the floor after lifting. Each movement must be performed smoothly and under muscle control. When using weights, you can get a sprain (in the case of abs, it’s rare, but it happens).
Listen to your body. If it hurts, stop doing the exercise. Try again another time. If it hurts another time, reduce the load. Usually the back hurts when you start lifting both legs at once.
The angle of leg bending should be determined by your strength abilities and stretching. Aim for straight legs.
If you have eaten, wait at least an hour. Exercising on a full stomach is harmful and difficult.

As with any workout, when working on the abs, you should follow the principle of gradualness. If your body didn't know before physical activity- start with the simplest option. That is, start with lifting one leg, and if this is easy for you, move on to raising both legs.

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The technique of performing leg lifts is simple, so you can master it from the first lesson if you know how to do it correctly. There are several options. Each has its own degree of effectiveness. You need to choose yours based on your current physical condition and the purpose of doing the exercises.

If you just need to get rid of a couple of centimeters, then doing these exercises will quickly achieve your goal. When you need to adjust larger volumes, it is important to reconsider your diet, including through a proper diet.

How to raise your legs while lying on an incline bench

What muscles are involved: iliopsoas, rectus.

IP: lie with your stomach up, arms along your body.

Tighten your abs and carefully, without jerking, tear off your legs.
Exhale and continue to lift your legs towards your body, lifting your pelvis and hips off the bench. Legs should be slightly bent.
Inhaling, return to IP.

Lying on your back: 3 types of exercises

The correct choice of option depends on the level of training of the person:

Weak abs (needs to be strengthened).
good physical form body (you just need to give the abs some relief).
Sports uniform at the torso, healthy body. Lifts should be performed in order to increase the level of the current load.

Leg Raises: Basic Level

IP: lie on your back. Your arms should be extended along your body.

Raise your head. Keep your legs together. Raise at an angle of 45°. After a couple of seconds, return to IP.
When your heel touches the floor, lift your other leg.
Perform for the other leg.
Exhale when the body receives a strong load. Exhale and raise your legs, and while inhaling, lower them.

Without burden

IP: lie on your back. The head should not be raised (this relieves stress). The legs are placed together.

Raise both legs to a 45° angle.
Hold them up for a couple of seconds. Lower it back down.
The heels lie on the floor. For an advanced level: the heels should not be lowered to the floor under any circumstances. Leave them at a distance of 2 cm from the floor (all this time the abs are tense).
For greater load, spread your legs to the sides as in the photo. Do 10 reps.

At first (the first week) you should lower your feet to the floor.
After a couple of weeks, make the exercise more difficult and prevent your heels from touching the floor.
Hold your legs for two or more seconds.

Lying down with weights

IP: lie on your back, legs together.

A weight should be attached to each leg.
Hold dumbbells with your feet. The weight should be chosen small (it’s better to start with 0.5-1 kg and, when this weight is barely noticeable, increase the load).
Climbing incline bench with dumbbells in the legs must be performed carefully. It is better under the supervision of a coach or experienced mentor.
Raise your legs at an angle of 60° (no more).

On the stomach

A useful exercise that actively engages the buttocks. IP: lying on your stomach, you need to bend your elbows.

Draw your stomach in, maintain tension in the lumbar region and do not allow it to bend.
Legs straight. Keep them shoulder-width apart, raised up.
Lower down until your hips touch the floor.
When contact occurs, lift them up.
Use a bench or step as a height (the pelvis rests in the corner). This will increase the amplitude and allow you to work the gluteal muscles.

The back should not be rounded, otherwise the lower back will receive unnecessary and harmful stress. You need to put a support under the pelvis, this will increase the amplitude.

Errors:

Place your feet on the floor and relax.
Raise the body with your hands.

The nuances and benefits of lifting legs from a supine position

Muscle work

The key criteria that distinguish this load from others are:

Frame. You need to keep your body up. This creates the desired load, paying special attention to the rectus muscle.
Hands. When the palms are placed under, they lift the pelvis. This creates an optimal slope.
Hips. Thanks to the pelvis, which is slightly raised, you can press the belt to the floor, protecting yourself from possible injuries.
Bench angle. The lower the bench is, the greater the level of load placed on the abs. You can complicate the task - from a lying position on a bench, keep your legs hanging.
You need to lie on your back. The lower back is pressed to the floor. Feet require special attention. They need to be pulled and then straightened. Your heels should touch the floor and bend your knees slightly.
Exercise is useful after surgery.

You can't relax. Pay attention to where your lower back is. She is pressed down, this is necessary to keep her safe.

How to replace leg lifting from a lying position: an alternative

Lower your bent legs

The body is relaxed. Lying on your back, raise your upper body. Legs must be bent at the knees at an angle of 90°. They must be lowered one by one. Your heels should not touch the floor. Maintain a moderate pace.

Raise your legs while hanging

Conclusion

All physical training, aimed at improving the shape of the abdomen or strengthening the abs, are potentially harmful to the back. If you want to act with health benefits, then you need to press your lower back tightly to the floor during exercise.

And before doing any abdominal exercises, consult with your doctors to see if there are any contraindications. The movement of the legs is carried out by the muscles of the thighs. Do the exercise slowly and make sure that your abs are working when you lift and lower your legs.

Lying leg raises can achieve many goals:

strengthen the abdominal muscles (lower, regardless of preparation);
increase the level of endurance;
for body therapy (prevention of osteochondrosis and intervertebral hernia);
to restore the full functioning of the body;
part of the exercise in the morning.

During these exercises, the lower abs are worked out and all muscles are used. To increase the effectiveness of training, it is necessary to exclude simple carbohydrates, baked goods, and sugar from the diet.

Leg raises are recognized as a universal support option muscle tone on the stomach. In order to achieve best results, it is important to exercise regularly. Minimum - three times a week, but better - daily.

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It is no secret that nature itself prescribes the deposition of excess fat in the lower abdomen - this is quite normal and very common. Therefore, lovely ladies who are concerned about this “natural phenomenon” often have a question: “What exercises should I do to remove excess from the lower abdomen?”

I suggest you set of exercises, designed to cope with this task. Leg raises serve to strengthen the lower part of the rectus abdominis muscle.

1. Straight leg raise while lying on your back.

Initial position: Lying on your back, arms extended along the body, legs straight, feet together, lower back pressed to the floor, head and top part the torso is slightly raised.

Technique: Raise your legs slowly; when lifting, you can bend them slightly at the knees. When lowering your legs to the starting position, do not touch the floor, but immediately begin the next movement.

Possible mistakes: Separation of the lower back from the floor and excessive tension in the upper body. To prevent this from happening, take the starting position while lying down, feel the lumbar deflection, then bend your knees and... as if stretching yourself up, remove the lumbar deflection. After this, straighten your legs, leaving your lower back pressed to the floor, slightly raise your head and begin the exercise.

2. Lowering your legs to the sides.

Oblique muscles and lower part of the rectus abdominis muscle.

Initial position: Lying on your back, arms spread to the sides and palms touching the floor. Legs bent at the knees and raised.

Technique: After inhaling, lower your legs to the side as you exhale, leaving your shoulder blades pressed to the floor. Having exhaled and completed the movement to the end, with a new breath, begin to return to the starting position. Repeat on the other side.

It is possible to perform a more complex version of this exercise with the ball held between the feet.

Possible mistakes: Separation of the shoulder blades from the floor during the jerk and disruption of the breathing rhythm. To prevent this from happening, try to perform the exercise at a uniform, moderate pace.
Leg and pelvic lifts horizontal bench.

3. Scissors.

Bottom part rectus abdominis muscle.

Initial position: Lying on your back, hands on the buttocks or extended along the body, the upper part of the body is slightly raised.

Technique: Perform alternating movements with your legs up and down, lifting them to a height of about 30 centimeters. At the same time, do not touch the floor and keep the rhythm.

4. Leg overlap while lying on the floor.

Initial position: Lying on your back, arms extended along the body, head and upper body slightly raised.

Technique: Raise your legs to a height of 20 cm and alternately place one under the other as if you were doing a “scissors” exercise only in the horizontal plane.

Possible mistakes: Perform leg movements using the thigh muscles. To prevent this from happening, perform the exercise slowly, making sure that the abdominal muscles do the maximum work.

5. Alternate lowering of bent legs.

The lower part of the rectus abdominis muscle.

Initial position: Lying on your back, upper body slightly elevated, legs raised and knees bent at an angle of 90 degrees.

Technique: Lower your legs one at a time, without touching your heels to the floor. Perform the exercise at a moderate, even pace.

Possible mistakes: Perform leg movements using the thigh muscles. To prevent this from happening, perform the exercise slowly, making sure that when raising and lowering your legs, the abdominal muscles do the maximum work.

6. Raises the legs and pelvis on a horizontal bench.

The upper and lower parts of the rectus abdominis muscle.

Initial position: Lying with your back on a bench, your feet are on the floor. Then stretch your legs and grab the bench behind your head with your hands.

Technique: Perform a smooth leg lift until right angle, then lift your pelvis off the bench, as if starting to do a “birch tree” stance. Return to the starting position. try to do all the movements.

7. Simultaneous lifting of the legs and torso while sitting on a bench

: Upper and lower parts of the rectus abdominis muscle.

Initial position: Sit on the edge of the bench. Then, holding on with your hands, extend your legs slightly bent at the knees and tilt your body back until you maintain a balanced position.

Technique: At the same time, lift your torso and knees until they touch your chest. Then return to the starting position. To make it more difficult, you can stretch your arms forward, this will force you to spend more effort on maintaining balance, and all the abdominal muscles will actively work.

And, oddly enough, it’s us again, welcome! Today is about raising your legs in a lying position.

Wednesday on the calendar 16 November, which means it’s time for a technical note on . After reading, you will learn everything about the muscle atlas, the advantages and technique of performing the exercise, we will also find out the degree of its effectiveness and the advisability of including it in your press training program.

So, take your seats, we're starting.

Lifting legs in a lying position. What, why and why?

For some reason, people have it in their heads that if you want to change something in your figure, then the first thing you should do is run to Gym and buy a subscription (and often semi-annually or annually). Arriving at the gym, the first thing a person does is start looking for equipment and exercise equipment that he understands. And dumbbells and barbells, as well as benches for presses and abs, come to the fore here. Moreover, they often hang on the latest design, the Roman chair, quite seriously, hammering their abs until they lose pulse. In such cases, I immediately want to ask the question: “ Why the hell did you come to the gym?... Why do exercises in the gym that you can do at home?

Agree, it’s quite irrational to come to a fitness center and pay money for a membership. (or even a one-time lesson) and devote most of the time to abdominal exercises. Why? Yes, because most of them can be done at home. Which? - you ask. And I will answer you: for example, lifting the legs in a lying position, which we will talk about later in the text.

Note:
For better assimilation of the material, all further narration will be divided into subchapters.

Muscle atlas

The exercise belongs to the class of isolating exercises with a pull type of force and has as its main goal working out the muscles of the “lower” press.

The muscle ensemble includes the following units:

targeted – iliopsoas;
synergists – tensor fascia lata, sartorius, pectineus, rectus femoris, adductor long/brevis;
dynamic stabilizers – hamstrings, calves;
stabilizers - rectus and oblique abdominal muscles, quadriceps.

A complete muscle atlas looks like this.

Advantages

By performing the leg lift exercise in a lying position, you can expect to receive the following benefits:

insulating training of the “lower” press;
development of muscle strength in the abdominal region;
development of hip flexor strength;
improving mobility of the hip joint;
improved balance and increased stability;
support and strengthening of the lower back muscles;
massage of the abdominal organs.

Execution technique

Lifting your legs while lying down is an exercise entry level difficulties. The step-by-step execution technique is as follows.

Step #0.

Lay out a mat and lie with your back on the floor with your legs fully extended in front of you. Place your hands, palms down, under your buttocks. This is your starting position.

Step #1.

Inhale and as you exhale raise your straight (closed to each other) legs up to the corner 90 degrees. Stay on 1-2 count at the end point of the trajectory and, while inhaling, slowly lower your legs down without touching the floor. Repeat the specified number of times.

In the picture version, all this disgrace looks like this.

In motion like this...

Variations

In addition to the classic version, there are several variations of the exercise, in particular:

lying on a bench;
alternate leg raises;
simultaneous lifting of arms and legs;
leg and arm raises with dumbbells in hands;
lifting the fitball with your feet.

Secrets and subtleties

To get the most out of the exercise, follow these guidelines:

make sure that throughout the entire movement, your legs remain closed and straight;
do not let your feet touch the floor;
at the top point of the trajectory, pause for 1-2 bills and only then return to the individual entrepreneur;
slowly and under control lower your legs down and quickly up;
if it is comfortable for you, then place your hands under your buttocks or fix them side by side;
if you use the option of lying on a bench, then make sure that your tailbone lies on it and your legs hang down;
do not use the exercise if you have ;
breathing technique: exhale – to force/lift the legs up, inhale – to lower them down;
numerical training parameters: number of approaches 3-4 , reps 20 .

We're done with the theoretical side, now let's look at some practical points.

Lifting legs in a lying position - effective exercise?

The method of assessing the electrical activity of muscles allows us to judge the effectiveness of an exercise. EMG data (t-nation resource research, 2016 , USA) in relation to search best exercises on the press, they say (for the region of the lower rectus abdominis muscle) following:

lifting straight legs while hanging on the bar - 124 ;
raising straight legs while lying on a bench - 120 ;
press roller – 103 ;
crunches with weight lying on a fitball - 102 ;
classic crunches with weight lying on the floor - 55,3 .

Evidence suggests that lying leg raises are a very effective exercise for developing “ lower cubes”, in addition, it perfectly loads the iliopsoas muscle, which athletes do not pay attention to at all.

Is it better to train your abs at home or in the gym?

It is impossible to give a definite answer here, because everything depends on the specific training program. The following rule can be used as a guide to decision making. If you exercise on a split system (separation muscle groups by days), then it is advisable to carry out abdominal training on days of small muscle groups (arms, shoulders) or on back days. If you work out your whole body during training, then you can do the press at home and not waste time on it in the gym. In any case, remember that if you are running out of time for training, you can always “score” your abs and “beat them off” at home.

Actually, we’re done with the substantive part, let’s move on to...

Afterword

Lifting the legs while lying down is another exercise that we discussed in the technical series of articles. If you have only used press machines and structures in the gym until now, then it’s time to try something new. Will you try it, huh?

PS: Do you have any favorite abdominal exercises, which ones?

PPS: did the project help? Then leave a link to it as your status social network- plus 100 points towards karma are guaranteed :).

With respect and gratitude, Dmitry Protasov.